In 2001, the Lions Club of Pokhara Annapurna began a deworming program, to detect protozoa and other worms, which are transmitted by contaminated drinking water. We discovered that approximately 70% of students in the Pokhara valley have serious diseases because of contaminated water. Since then, we have attempted to combat this issue in multiple ways. We have held many health camps to screen and treat children and adults for worms. We have also distributed 70 water purification machines in different government schools. However, this was found to be an insufficient long term solution, due to the maintenance requirements of these machines.
Therefore, we have come up with a new vision, and the International Youth Mobilization for Social Service Program has begun. This program entails building heavy duty water tanks underground. These tanks will last at least 100 years, which means children will have a continuous supply of clean water. Norwood Secondary College, in Australia, has partnered with us to install these tanks at the Shree Ram Adharbud School. Norwood Secondary College students have also repainted the Shree Ram Adharbud school buildings.
This program is designed to encourage the younger international generation to get involved in social service. It has the added benefit of facilitating cultural exchanges between Nepal and other countries. Installing clean water supply systems has a huge and lasting impact for our school students. This has also been an eye opening experience for our partner volunteers, who have become aware of how Lions help those people in need.
